Monday, June 26, 2006

Do the Tour of Grandview and maybe not finish, or head to the Raccoon Rally and hope to do well. I took the easy road.

25 mile laps. 2 climbs of 3 -4 miles per climb each lap. Lots of climbing at around 4% or 5%.

There were some strong guys there from Ohio, NY and Canada. After 1 lap our group was down to 12 people. Brian Batke from Team Torelli kept attacking on the 3rd climb, so Glenn just went to the front and did a 10 minute time trial up the hill. He kept the pace really high and drafting made it easier for people to hang on. The hills lacked the steep pitches that would hurt people enough to really pop them.

At the top of the climb, chris Ciaccio attacked pretty hard and I jumped on to go with him. We got a good gap and tried holding it on the descent. I suck at going fast so I think I was just slowing him down. He is a monster time trialist and was keeping the pace really high.

We got caught at the worst spot, right at the bottom of the last climb. Not sweet, cause it left little time to recover before going up. The attacks started pretty quickly and thankfully I had Glenn to go with them while I tried to recover some.

I managed to hang onto the lead group up the hill, and there were 6 of us when Glenn got a gap on the false flat at the top. He kept the pace high, allowing me to suck wheels for the next 8 miles while he managed to fend off the 4 others chasing him.

Of course he got caught with about 100 meters to go. I really thought he would stick it, but a few attacks within the chase group closed the gap a bit too much. I managed to come around the chasers for the win, and Glenn got 6th. It was a good race and hopefully was good training for Nationals for Glenn, he looked crazy strong.

Monday, June 19, 2006

I guess this is a stage race report.Dougie and Glenn Drove me and Stubna to Ohio for the summer solstice stage race.

Friday night was the Crit. 50 minutes. It started late and involved weird turns into parking lots. It was dark when we finished and there were no street lights. I was so stoked when a break got away so it slowed down enough for me to know I was going to finish. I got the same time as the field.. Sweet.

Stubna and I drove with johnturn back to his parents house, hitting up the waffle house on the way down. Double stack with 2 scrambled eggs. Sweet.

Saturday AM came really quickly. The race was a 76 mile road race, all flat. During neutral roll out I talked to some dude who has an Asian Tree Leopard as a pet. If you want one, he said the humane society had 2. He said it can jump 8 feet high, so I asked if the cage had a roof. He said it just walks around his house all day. Oh yeah the bike race. Early break away. Texas roadhouse chased it, we got caught by the 3's, there were a million crashes all right in front of me it seemed. I pull my brake cable out of the caliper and skidded my tire bald avoiding it. I got the same time. Stubna pulled off 7th in a flat field sprint, Johnturn got 4th I think. Dougie flatted in the Cat3 race. I had just glued his tubular on for him that week, and my stomach sank when I saw him in a turn with a flat, thinking he had possibly rolled the tire. And of course he kept saying that is what happened to make me nervous.

We went back to Glenn's room and watch the world cup and played with our TT stuff getting ready for the time trial. 4.5 milesish flat with lots of wind. It was delayed without any definite start times. "6:25 ish" was my start time. I was stoked to have Stubna as my minute man. He was doing it merckx style and set a brutal pace for me, despite my TT bike and borrowed Troxel helmet. Paul Martin had some profile clip on bars and posted some insane time, but was beat by Andy Apllegate.

Super sweet Mexican food for dinner.

Stage 4 was a road race, which was shortened due to a triathalon on the same roads at the same time. It was cut to 56 miles. Big hill and brutal winds. I remember the break going and I was right there, but just couldn't do it. I didn't have enough to jump up to it. We were going like 32 on a narrow road in the gutter with cross winds. Johnturn made it. 5 guys including Paul Martin. Abercrombie chased for a whole lap and I attacked on the hill and got a good 6 man group. I think they were told on the radio to stop working with our chase group and come back to the main field and chase, so what was left of the field reintegrated. Next time up the hill I end up in a group of 7 or so again and we just kept it together for the last lap and last time up the hill. It is so cliche to sit on a breakway and win the bunch, but this guy had no problems doing it. I did as little work as a could, figuring I could win the bunch finish (cause it finished on top of the hill). The guy who sat on took me though, and I ended up 7th and 8th on GC.

The way home included: -A car blowing a tire out right in front of us-A jeep breaking what we believed to be the tie rod, causing his wheels to wobble like crazy and forcing him to gradually just slow down-A desk blow out the back of a truck into the middle of the highway. Im glad we didnt stick around to see the eventual outcome of that, maybe it made the news.-The worlds fastest busboy. Words cannot describe it and I regret not pushing mike to get his camera to video it. People would have thought footage was doctored. His hands moved so fast you could hardly see him. Glenn timed him and his fastest time clearing a table, moving all the salt and peppers and little dessert menus then wiping it down was 29 seconds.

I got home at an OK time and went to the park where they show free outdoor movies and laid in the grass watching the new Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I was less than impressed.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

So Danny Chew calls me yesterday morning and said that I was the first thing he thought about when he got up. He told me of his regrets after finishing 12th at USPRO and how he didnt go to worlds, despite the invitation. He said that I need to step up my mileage to about 700 miles a week with about 1/2 of that at intensity. He was totally serious. No seriously, he was serious. It was endearing that he would think of me and whatnot and be concerned about my training, but this is totally insane. Man does he rule.

About Me

Updating this after 5 years.
I am all grown up. I have a job selling houses in Pittsburgh. I have a car. I have a house. I have a wife.
I race bikes. Im a cat 1 road/cross and Pro mtb. I have raced and ridden lots of bikes in lots of places.
This blog has slowed down since becoming an adult.
www.thecummingsbrothers.com